Donald Trump: 'Racist' immigration ban must be challenged, tech giant Atlassian says
Updated
Global tech giant Atlassian is scrambling to ensure none of its 1,800 employees will be caught up in US President Donald Trump's executive order stopping citizens from seven countries entering America.
Key points:
- Atlassian is looking to fill hundreds of new positions, many of which are in the US
- "Not hiring people because of their background would clearly be illegal," co-founder says
- Atlassian prides itself on caring for its 1,800-strong workforce, representing 50 different nationalities
"We're not actually allowed to record this level of data about our employees, their nationality and various other details," co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes told The Business.
"But we don't currently believe that there are any from those seven particular countries who are either outside the United States or have a green card or visa situation that would put them into a difficult situation."
Although, he and his senior management team cannot be sure.
The situation is made more difficult by Atlassian's rapid growth, which means it is looking to fill hundreds of new positions — many of which are in the US.
"We are hiring hundreds of people at the moment, so you have to be very careful," Mr Cannon-Brookes said.
"We do use visas both here and in the US to get the best talent from around the world, so we just have to be very careful and stay abreast of the developing situation."
The executive orders place companies like Atlassian in an impossible situation, with many unanswered questions about how to deal with job applicants from the countries on the list: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
"Not hiring people because of their background would clearly be illegal — welcome to the strange world we've been put into — but if anyone did apply with a family history from some of those countries, well, we certainly wouldn't not hire them because they came from those places."
Immigration 'really important issue for tech industry'
Atlassian would consider moving staff to other offices around the world, or have them work remotely.
Among corporate US, tech bosses have been the most vocal opponents of the new immigration rules, with Google co-founder and billionaire Sergey Brin joining a protest at San Francisco international airport telling reporters he, too, "was a refugee" having come to the US from the Soviet Union.
It is a stance that makes sense, according to Mr Cannon-Brookes.
"Immigration has been a really important issue for tech industry," he said.
"I believe of the 10 largest technology companies in the US, I think seven or eight of them were started by immigrants."
Mr Cannon-Brookes said opposition to the ban should not be taken just because companies might not be able to employ people with tech skills.
"It should be just the fact that it is a blatantly discriminatory and racist executive order that we should stand up to," he said.
Politicians have a 'clear choice' to make
The whole issue has become a big distraction for the Nasdaq-listed Atlassian, which like many tech firms, prides itself on caring for its 1,800-strong workforce which represents about 50 different nationalities.
"Our staff have all started double and triple checking their travel, and something as innocuous as a trip from our Austin office to the Sydney office could result [in an employee] not being able to get home to family, which is just craziness," Mr Cannon-Brookes said.
"What the technology industry is trying to say is that this is not an OK situation and we need to change it and that starts by people raising their voices and saying so."
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been quoted as saying Australia supports Mr Trump's border-protection policy, which is something Mr Cannon-Brookes believed could be damaging.
"Our politicians have a very clear choice as to whether we go down in history as a country that supports some of these policies or a country that resists, and that's a choice we have to make," he said.
"If we are seen to be very supportive of what is going on in the US we will have a difficult time recruiting the staff that we need. I think it will be challenging."
Topics: science-and-technology, computers-and-technology, internet-technology, donald-trump, community-and-society, immigration, government-and-politics, federal-government, australia, united-states
First posted
